


Date or Bust

by missberrycake



Category: Inception (2010)
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-09-20
Updated: 2011-09-20
Packaged: 2017-11-01 13:59:22
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,432
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/357601
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/missberrycake/pseuds/missberrycake
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>In which Arthur tries very hard. </p><p>Inspired by <a href="http://inception-kink.livejournal.com/19177.html?thread=44763113#t44763113">a prompt</a> on the Inception kink-meme: "Four times Arthur asked Eames out and no one noticed. One time they did."</p>
            </blockquote>





	Date or Bust

i.

This was it, Arthur thought. Today was the day. He was going to do it; he was going to ask Eames out. No more of this hair-pulling, someone needed to man-up and take the plunge. Eames would say yes, Eames liked him back. Arthur knew this, or he thought he did. 

He spied his target staring thoughtfully at a picture of their newest mark on the whiteboard. Now was the time. Arthur (oh so casually, he might add) wondered up to Eames’ shoulder.

“Hey.” Eames jumped and grabbed his chest.

“Jesus, Arthur! You scared the living daylights out of me!” 

“Sorry.” Arthur felt the overwhelming urge to abort the mission, until he saw Eames smile fondly at him with those lips ... those ridiculous lips ...

“Did you want something?” Arthur was brought out of his reverie, buy the amused looking Brit.

“No. Yes! Well, yes. There was this one thing I ... um” he was floundering. Pull it together man! This was not the moment to have a crisis. “Yes. Eames, I wanted to ask you a question.” 

“Fire away m’dear, fire away.” Eames was looking directly at him, giving Arthur his full attention. He may have gotten a little stage-fright. Who could blame him? This was The Big Moment – what if it all went wrong. Arthur didn’t think he could face Eames’ rejection face to face. And so, Arthur, in a momentary bout of cowardice, addressed his own fidgeting hands.

“I thought you might want to get a coffee with me, after the job or something.” 

Silence. 

Oh God. He’d made a fool of himself. Eames was so disgusted by the idea of being alone with him that he couldn’t even respond to Arthur’s question. It was humiliating, it was degrading, it was- 

Eames wasn’t there. Arthur looked up to find himself addressing thin air. Was this worse? He couldn’t quite tell. 

Shouts of glee reached Arthur’s ears and he turned to see Yusuf, Ariadne and Eames pressed up against the window. His curiosity got the better of him, and he went over to see what the fuss was. 

As it turned out Eames had seen Cobb coming back from lunch through the window, when Cobb had been ‘attacked’ (Arthur felt it important to note that it hardly constituted a real threat.) by a ‘gang’ (Again, gang, really?) of Chihuahuas. This, he was reliably informed, had been too much of an opportunity for Eames and, apparently, Yusuf and Ariadne to miss (“But Arthur, look. He’s on the floor!”).

So his invitation had not been rejected, just unheard. Well, Arthur thought, he will not be bested by Cobb and his inability to defend himself against tiny, tiny dogs. No sir. 

ii.

Asking him quietly for a coffee had been a stupid idea anyway, Arthur decided. This was much better. Direct, to the point. Much more Eames. He was bound to say yes.

“Let’s go to dinner. There’s a lovely little Turkish place down the road. What do you think?” Arthur spread his arms, so as to fully indicate to Eames what he could gain from this. 

Eames face lit up. Arthur had never known such relief in his life. Yes! He was going to say yes! Eames liked him back!

“That’s an awesome idea, Arthur. I’ve never tried Turkish food.” Arthur’s heart plummeted as he and Eames both turned towards Ariadne (When did she get here?), a smile plastered over her face. “Cobb! Yusuf! Arthur’s taking us all out to dinner.” She skipped over to the other side of the warehouse to spread the word.

“Is that what you meant, darling?” Eames turned back to him, uncharacteristically sombre.

Arthur brought his eyebrows down from his hairline. What a horrifying mess, he couldn’t say no to Ariadne and the others now – he’d look ridiculous. 

“Yes. All of us. Yep. All of us having dinner together, as a team. Team bonding - yep. Sounds great.” His voice sounded unnatural and tight in his own ears. 

As the team collected their coats, all murmuring about how nice it was to have a meal out together, Arthur spared a moment to bang his head against the warehouse wall before following them all down the block. 

iii.

Third time lucky, Arthur thought, as he went through his options. He needed to get Eames on his own, but didn’t want him to get distracted again. 

He could write him a note! Or was that too childish? No, Arthur resolved, desperate times called for desperate measures. He could just leave the note on Eames’ desk, then Eames could read it whenever he wanted and no one else would think it was for them.

Right. Arthur reached out for his stack of post-it notes and surreptitiously turned to study Eames. For inspiration, of course. 

Dear Mr Eames. No that wouldn’t do at all. Eames, I (Arthur) would be delighted- Arthur scrunched up the note. This was going to take some time. 

~

After one final flourish of his pen Arthur reread the note.

Eames, 

I would very much like to take you out for a meal, just the two of us. Does this sound good to you? 

Arthur

Alright, it wasn’t the most romantic note in the world, but it would do the job without any interruptions. 

Under the pretext of borrowing and eraser while Eames was in the restroom, Arthur deposited the note on Eames desk. Success! When he heard the door squeak he strode back to his chair. Eames was walking towards his desk, just a few more steps. Then Cobb came swooping towards Eames from the other direction. 

“Eames”. When Eames stopped just short of his desk to look up at Cobb Arthur was on the edge of his seat. 

Cobb finished asking Eames about the marks sister (At last. Read the note Eames, for god’s sake.) he turned around to head back in the direction he came. To Arthur’s horror and, frankly, disbelief the post it note got caught in the draft Cobb’s jacket made and floated to the floor. As Cobb step forward his foot landed precisely on top of the fallen note. Arthur stood up, hand covering his mouth. 

“Yeah? Arthur?” 

Eames turned to look at the pair of them. Why me, Arthur thought. He looked down at Cobb’s foot. 

“Nothing, Cobb, I just thought we should up the sedative dosage if we’re gonna be in transit.” 

Cobb shrugged “Yeah. OK. That’s probably sensible” and walked off. Arthur’s eyes followed the note still attached to his foot and slumped back into his chair. 

“Sensible” he sighed. He met Eames gaze and smiled. As Eames smiled back he thought I will get you, if it kills me.

This was getting ridiculous. 

iv.

The team were gathered around the whiteboard for a final go-over of the plan. Eames was being his usual infuriating, wonderful self, and it was leaving Arthur in a bit of a daze. Which shouldn’t be allowed. 

“Darling, could you pass me that folder?” 

Arthur blames his reaction on the fact that Eames had been tonguing a pen lid for the last 10 minutes, thus he couldn’t be held responsible for anything he said or did. 

“As you wish” 

Oh dear. That may have been a bit much. Eames wouldn’t get the reference would he? Arthur passed him the folder, ignoring the tingling sensation he felt when their fingers brushed.

Eames gazed at him with an expression Arthur couldn’t quite identify. Arthur felt the heat rising in his cheeks. Maybe the Chihuahuas will come back and distract him, he thought fruitlessly.

i.

It was just Arthur and Eames left in the warehouse. After the extraction had been completed Arthur stayed to get rid of the evidence. Eames had offered to help. Arthur wasn’t particularly sure why he felt so much like a fly in a web. 

“So, farm boy, good job today” Arthur froze. Turning towards Eames slowly he grimaced.

“Thanks”, perhaps the ground would swallow him up if he just wished hard enough.

“Hey, so you doing anything tonight?” Eames switched his weight from foot to foot. Was he nervous? 

“No. No, I’m not doing anything. Why?” Arthur’s heart began to beat faster in his chest.

“Oh, well. I mean, I’m just wondering. I’m not doing anything either you see.” A slow smile broke across Eames’ face. Arthur smiled and bit his lip.

“Hey Eames. Do you fancy getting dinner with me later?” 

Eames laughed and placed his hand on Arthur’s lower back, guiding him out the door. 

“Why Arthur, I thought you’d never ask” and Arthur thought, well, that wasn’t so hard after all.


End file.
